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Rotten dumplings, anyone?
19/06/2007 12:15 - (SA)
Shanghai, China - A company in eastern China was ordered to stop production after food safety officials found it was repackaging the filling from two-year-old rice dumplings, a report said on Tuesday.
Officials in east China's Anhui province ordered a recall of all "zongzi", a traditional snack made of glutinous rice and other fillings usually wrapped in bamboo leaves, made by the manufacturer, Wan Maomao Frozen Food Co, the official newspaper Shanghai Daily reported.
The recall comes amid an uproar over problems with tainted foods and medicines that has spread to other countries following the discovery of toxic chemicals from China in medicines, pet foods and toothpaste.
The report said the factory had removed the original wrappings from the dumplings and repackaged them as made in 2007. Some of the dumplings had already begun to rot, it said.
Authorities found two tons of the expired dumplings in a weekend raid of Wan Maomao's factory in Anhui and also retrieved 1.4 tons that had already been sold, the report said.
Zongzi are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat festival each June. According to custom, the dumplings originally were thrown into a river as an offering to the ancient poet Qu Yuan, who according to legend drowned himself in 278 BC.
Last week, the national quality inspection administration announced that 10% of rice dumplings made by 133 producers nationwide had failed tests because they contained excessive amounts of food additives.
The tests showed that the leaves contained high amounts of copper sulfate or copper chloride, normally used to make the leaves bright green.
According to Shanghai Daily, Wan Maomao was warned last year for making substandard zongzi.
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